WESTERN UNION (1941) C 93m dir: Fritz Lang

w/Randolph Scott, Robert Young, Dean Jagger, Virginia Gilmore, John Carradine, Slim Summerville, Chill Wills, Barton MacLane, Russell Hicks, Victor Kilian

From The Movie Guide: "After the success of his first western, THE RETURN OF FRANK JAMES, German director Lang was assigned to do another, this one based on the construction of the Western Union telegraph line from Omaha, Nebraska, to Salt Lake City, Utah. Randolph Scott stars as an outlaw looking to reform his wicked ways.

"The most epic and beautiful of Lang's westerns (it was the director's personal favorite), WESTERN UNION is an outstanding entry in the genre. Lang, who loved the American West and spent much time traveling there, researched the period thoroughly and paid painstaking attention to detail. Having studied American Indians for some time, he was delighted with the opportunity to present them in their full glory, with accurate warpaint and battle gear photographed in beautiful Technicolor. The photography by [Edward] Cronjager is some of the most beautiful work of the 1940s, and the cast is filled with outstanding character actors such as Carradine, Wills, Summerville, and Kilian. There is much humor in WESTERN UNION, most of it centering around Summerville, the timid cook scared witless of the 'Wild West.' Lang would make only one more western, RANCHO NOTORIOUS, yet another superior entry from a German director working in a distinctly American genre."